Phi 2:12-13, 12 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Many people believe that salvation can be earned through man’s work. I even heard one “pastor” state that every time someone sins, they lose their salvation. He cited our verse above as a proof text to support his claim. How unbiblical a view this is; this is the ultimate eternal insecurity!
This verse is not referring to justification (declared righteous by God) but rather sanctification (growing in Christlikeness). Every believer is saved to serve, and grow in becoming like the Lord Jesus. Our lives must be increasingly holy in practical living. “The pursuit of holiness represents the lifelong process of making a person’s moral condition come into conformity with their status before God of being “justified” (Steve Lawson). Once we are justified by faith, then what? Then sanctification! Paul provides with pinpoint accuracy one of the most concise theological comments on sanctification in Scripture. It is short, but potent, as the concentrated light of a laser beam. He strikes the balance of Christian living between our part (v.12) and God’s part (v.13), followed by the fruit of that relationship played out in our lives.
Like a muscle, we must work out what God has worked in. He works in us to will and to work for His good pleasure and so we read and obey Scripture, pray, fellowship, share the Gospel, and appropriate the other spiritual discipline in our lives.
Soli Deo Gloria: How are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling for the glory of God?